Alabama Soil and Water Blog Spot

  Many E&SC practices like a silt fence are to be placed mostly on a contour to pond water and allow coarse particles time to settle and be captured.  So, my question is “What do you call a silt fence that is NOT on the contour?”  The answer is “A Diversion”.  This runoff water funnels down the edge of the silt fence often washes out the backfill and results in undermining of the silt fence.   Perry L Oakes, PE Alabama’s Erosion and Sediment Control Program Manager

I often hear the statement that “It’s flooding like I have NEVER seen it flood before”.  Sometimes it is easy to blame this on Climate Change , but it can be caused by land use changes.  For example, a watershed that changes from a Runoff Curve Number of 70 (a lot of woods and green space) to 95 (urbanized) can experience flooding more often. In this scenario, the runoff from a 2-year, 24-hour (50% chance of occurrence) event in the urbanized watershed can resemble the runoff from a 25-year, 24-hour (4% chance of occurring) event in the green watershed . So, it floods more frequently.  Something to think about!   Perry L Oakes, PE Alabama’s Erosion and Sediment Control Program Manager

Are you part of the stormwater problem or part of the solution?  Sometimes it is very evident.   Perry L Oakes, PE Alabama’s Erosion and Sediment Control Program Manager

  When block sod is placed in a potentially high flow area, either stake it or cover it with netting. It takes the roots a while to peg the sod down. That’s much easier than repairing or replacing it.   _____________________________________________________________________________ The FINAL day for on-line registration for Clear Water Alabama is 9/18!!   https://www.alabamastormwater.org/clear-water-alabama     Perry L Oakes, PE Alabama’s Erosion and Sediment Control Program Manager

  Just from a maintenance standpoint, isn’t it nice that we now have much better alternatives for stabilizing concentrated flow areas?   Perry L Oakes, PE Program Coordinator AL Erosion and Sediment Control Program

  When a construction site is “in” the stream, use a Stream Diversion Channel to keep “off-site” water clean as it goes through the site.   Perry L Oakes, PE Program Coordinator AL Erosion and Sediment Control Program